GRAND JUNCTION — About 81 percent of 2,600 stakeholders surveyed earlier this month said they think Mesa State College should consider a name change to better reflect the school’s mission and location.

Now the school is offering 20 potential new names for consideration.

The school surveyed students, alumni, faculty and staff March 8-25, asking whether the school should change its name. Among the respondents:

* 92.1 percent of respondents indicated that the word “university” has more prestige than “college.”

* 90.9 percent wanted the school to keep its Maverick mascot.

* 80.6 percent favored a name change.

“Based on the feedback we’ve received in small-group meetings, our prior survey and even our tele-townhall meeting, the overwhelming majority of our stakeholders believe the time is right for us to change our name in order to better communicate who we are, what we do and where we’re located,” Mesa State President Tim Foster said in a news release today.

The community survey which launched today will be distributed to students, alumni, faculty and staff and will ask respondents to indicate their level of preference for each of the 20 possible names.

Members of the community are encouraged to participate in the survey by clicking on: www.mesastate.edu/namesurvey or calling the Mesa State College Alumni office at 970-248-1525 for a hard copy.

The list of possible names includes suggestions made in the first survey as well as names suggested by students, alumni, faculty, staff and members of the community.

Some examples include: Colorado Canyons University, Colorado West University, Colorado Mesa University, University of Western Colorado and Mesa University of Western Colorado.

Metropolitan State College’s board of trustees on March 9 voted to change that school’s name to Denver State University.

The Colorado legislature will have to approve the change. A bill sponsored by state Sen. Michael Johnston and Rep. Chrisanta Duran, both Denver Democrats, will be introduced proposing name changes for both Metro and Mesa.

If lawmakers bless the change, it could take effect at Metro by fall 2012.

Spain came under repeated attack starting Thursday in what authorities called linked terrorist incidents, when a driver swerved a van into crowds in Barcelona’s historic Las Ramblas district, killing more than a dozen people and injuring scores of others. Early Friday, an attempted attack unfolded in a town down the coast

If there’s one superhero character whose rise might be most tied to the events of World War II, it is Captain America, who emerged from the minds of legends Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and sprung forth from an iconic 1941 debut cover on which Cap smacks Hitler right in the kisser.

A customer dining at Washington’s Oceanaire restaurant noticed an unusual line at the bottom of his receipt: “Due to the rising costs of doing business in this location, including costs associated with higher minimum wage rates, a 3% surcharge has been added to your total bill.”